London — Oil rose for a third day on Thursday to reach its highest so far this year as financial markets drew support from investor optimism that the US and China can resolve their trade dispute. The price of crude has risen 20% this year, driven primarily by the prospect of a decline in oil supply from oil cartel Opec and other top exporters, such as Russia. “This rally over the past two to three days is completely justified when you put the predicted Opec production cuts into your global oil supply and demand equation,” Tamas Varga of PVM Oil Associates said. Brent crude futures were up 95c at $64.56 a barrel by 10.07am GMT, down from a session high of $64.81, while US crude futures rose 56c to $54.46 a barrel. Opec and allies such as Russia and Oman have agreed to cut crude output by a joint 1.2-million barrels per day (bpd), 800,000 bpd of which will come from Opec. Adding to the positive backdrop was data showing a surprise increase in China’s exports in January, as well as a s...
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